


The Tiny Closet and Its Occupant

by InTheMix



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Monsters Inc (2001), Monsters University (2013)
Genre: Child Abuse, Crossover, Gen, Growing Up, Implied Character Death, Monster of the Week, Regret, Scarer, clean energy, magic doors, monster in the closet, uninterested
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 22:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheMix/pseuds/InTheMix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is one door that, despite its size, gives off a great deal of energy without any Monster interference. When Mike tries to make its child laugh he learns that he's not the only monster in the house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tiny Occupant

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a story from my fanfiction.net account. I hope you like it.

There were doors, not many mind you, but there were doors that gathered energy just by existing. Whether a Scarer scared the children who occupied these rooms or not they would give energy until the child who belonged to that door got to the age of about eleven and the energy collected slowly petered off for a few years until barely anything was transmitted and they blinked out. No one knew why this was but they were grateful none the less because in times of great need these were the doors that kept the emergency systems powered. It was for this reason, and this reason alone, that they were never destroyed when the child was no longer afraid of the "monster under the bed/closet/etc.." The unafraid children's doors were just put in the back of storage, silently collecting energy and forgotten until the day they were no longer useful… That was until the new "green energy" which came from laughter was discovered. It not only provided a new and better source but it also made available these doors that just been collecting dust and residual energy.

Another interesting thing about the children who came with these doors was that they were always the most dangerous children to collect from and not in the propaganda that human children were indeed toxic way but in the fact that strange things always seemed to happen when they were scared. The dangers ranged from thrown objects to exploding windows and, in the more dire cases, hurt monsters but the energy collected from such a reaction was so great that the risks were undertaken and handled by only the best Scarers. So when laughter became known to cause an even greater source of power with a lower risk of a horrendous reaction from these special children their doors were eagerly pulled from storage.

After a few trial runs, to make absolutely sure that these doors were safe when converting to laughter, they went for the one door that had broken many records with nary a scream from its occupant. They had sent a total of one monster to test the waters and he returned with a shrug saying the kid just wasn't scared and had in fact just raised an eyebrow at his appearance before returning to sleep in his unusually small room. So the unusually small door for the unusually small room for the unusually small but unafraid eyebrow raising boy had been put back into storage gathering a great deal of energy. They thought if fear couldn't get through to him perhaps laughter could so they sent in their new top employee, Mike Wazowski. It was only a bonus he just happened to be the right size.

"You ready for this Mike?" Sully asked curiously. There had been a large crowd gathered as they wanted to see potential history being made.

"Of course I'm ready for this big guy! What do you take me for? I'm the greatest collector around! Just you watch, all sorts of records are about to be broken. Just let me at 'em." Mike said enthusiastically. His over confidence playing no role in this whatsoever… According to him.

"Alright then, good luck." Sully gave Mike a supportive pat on the back.

"Luck? I don't need luck! This is all skill!" With that he walked up to the door that only he and few others were even able to fit into before turning one last time and with his parting remarks gave a grin and said, "I'll see you in a few minutes with the all time laugh record in the bag."

Mike silently entered the room and gently closed the door behind him only to find about an inch or two between him and the rather small but occupied bed. Mike was taking a look around when a young and tired voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"If you're here to scare me then you might as well leave." The kid still had his back to him but he was now obviously awake if the tenseness of the body had anything to go by it.

"I'm not here to scare you. I'm here to make you laugh kid."

"I find that hard to believe from a creature such as yourself." The kid still laid facing away from him and there was no mirror that he could see.

"Geez, sorry to break it to ya kid but Monster's got out of the scaring business. How'd you know what I was without looking anyways?" At this the kid finally turned around to reveal a thin face with green eyes that weren't entirely focused, messy black hair and just peeking through a fringe of hair was a lightning bolt shaped scar. What he noticed the most however was the pointedly raised eyebrow that had been left in the reports.

"The only ones who've ever visited my cupboard are the Dursley's and a chameleon like creature who tried to scare me a few years ago. Seeing you are not the Dursley's you had to be some sort of creature." From a child's point of view the logic was flawless. "If you aren't here to scare me why are you here?"

"Like I said kid, to make ya laugh! Work with me here." Mike was putting together an unpleasant picture of what this kid's life must have been like in his head. The boy just stared at him unimpressed.

"Then you might as well leave. I have chores to do in the morning and I need my sleep. Good night." With that he once more turned his back to Mike. He caught sight of a bruise on the back of his neck poking through his shirt. He started to understand now why he hadn't screamed the first time. They really weren't scary to him and apparently he wouldn't even give him a chance to make him laugh.

His eye softened as he thought for a little while on how to respond and try to get the kid to open up. He was about to speak again when suddenly the door was opened and he was pulled back through by familiar claws. He heard the door slammed shut behind him.

"What was that for?" Mike asked indignant.

"You're time was up and with no energy being collected we were worried that you were caught! What happened in there?" Sully was very concerned and when Mike didn't respond right away to his questions but instead got pensive look on his face his concern only grew. This whole situation was very unlike Mike.

"It- I- What can I say? He just raised an eyebrow at me before going back to sleep." Mike didn't know how to handle this situation. There was never any protocol made on how to deal with human problems other than in relation to monsters. As a monster he should leave the human problems to the humans. Right? Right.

"That's it? Are you sure?" Disbelief was prominent on Sully's face as well as the gathered crowds'.

"Yeah, big guy, I guess there are some things not even I could do." Mike patted Sully's large furry arm before he started to walk away. "I need to go for a walk and clear my head a bit. I don't recommend sending anyone else in. It won't do anything for him."

Mike walked away deep in thought. He silently pushed some of the crowd out of the way as he made his exit. For a long while Mike thought of what to do but in the end he didn't do anything and when the little door blinked out completely after a few days of massive surges rather than its normal slow decent of gradually losing energy when the boy turned eleven Mike took a few days off. It didn't necessarily mean anything but his mind leaped to the worst conclusion and the thought of the boy with the raised eyebrow would haunt him from time to time.


	2. A New Place and A Not So Tiny Occupant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its been many years since that night and he has learned his lesson... Perhaps though it's time to learn another one.

Mike made his rounds once again and on today's roster was the kid who reminded him of Randall. Edward,* or Teddy as he had been asked to be called, was a very unique child from one of the very unique doors that would sometimes appear. He hadn't seen the other monster since his exile but the things that this kid could do would always remind him greatly of that damned chameleon. Luckily though this is where the comparison ended as Teddy was a fantastic kid to know. He was sweet but mischievous and absolutely adored changing his hair color to match Mike's skin every time he came over. It was flattering really. He also helped inspire many of the jokes he told the other children he visited and was going to miss him when it was time to say goodbye for good because Teddy had outgrown the need for him.

Ever since that one disastrous door all those years ago Mike had changed his ways when it came to the children he visited. He got involved, to an extent, in their lives and they became friends. He learned their names and he told them his. He usually passed himself off as an imaginary friend, but a friend nonetheless, that would joke around and laugh with them but made it clear that they could also talk to him if they really needed to. He didn't just give up on them, not after the exceptionally small door to the exceptionally small room blinked out much too soon. He had learned his lesson. So he had stayed with them, befriended them, until they were getting too old for him and made his own sad farewells before disappearing from their lives forever.

His method of energy gathering wasn't exactly condoned, well it wouldn't be if they knew because it did present a large risk of Monsters being discovered by the adults, but he held the all time laugh records for many years now and no one had questioned him in a concerned manner yet. He hadn't been caught so far and what Sully and the rest didn't know wouldn't hurt them. It was his little secret and Mike thought it would stay that way as he walked confidently out of the closet of what he had expected to be a routine visit. Oh how wrong he was.

It was close to midnight when Teddy's door came around. He knew that Teddy's bedtime was around nine p.m. and his godfather, who was his guardian, went to bed around eleven. Midnight was an ample time to visit as Teddy would be refreshed from a short nap and his godfather would be fast asleep. What he hadn't planned on that night though was that it was May the second. Had he known the significance of the date he would have realized that his Godfather would be feeling the need to be near a living family member and hold them as to reassure himself that the people he had lost so many years before on this date hadn't died for nothing. If Mike had known that the second of May was a horrible anniversary that lead to an over protective parent he would not have come that night. However, he did not know so he treated this as any other day and walked right in without taking any precaution when entering.

He was halfway to the bed when he noticed something was amiss. Teddy wasn't in his normal spot but instead someone much larger was. Some adult sized large. He quickly looked up see an adult man, presumably the one he had heard so many good things about, holding a sleeping Teddy gently and looking at him curiously with one eyebrow raised. If Mike hadn't been in shock at being caught he would have noticed something eerily familiar about this man but he was frozen to the spot trying to think of how to escape with the least amount of damage done.

"This is a dream. You are just dreaming of an incredibly handsome Monster is in the room. Go to sleep." He said this in a mystic voice while his fingers wiggled in a silly fashion as he slowly backed his way to the closet.

"So this isn't the creature that Teddy goes on about so often? Or visited me as a child?" The man's voice was curious and his eyebrow still raised pointedly.

By now Mike had calmed down enough to really process what he was hearing and seeing. He stopped moving to examine the man more clearly. He had dark messy hair and green eyes that he could still make out despite the glasses. The man gave a slight chuckle at being stared at in such an inquisitive manner by a small green monster and ruffled his hair which revealed a faded lightning bolt scar. That triggered something in the back of Mike's mind and when he looked at the man's face as a whole again he noticed the raised eyebrow. He had only met one person to raise an eyebrow in such a way but it couldn't be him. Could it?

"You're him. I mean you're alive!" Mike suddenly burst out. "You're alive!"

"Yes, death hasn't kept me yet," The Man said somberly. It was an odd choice of words but Mike let it slide as he was too awed and relieved that the boy hadn't died. That he had over reacted to the door blinking out. "Why would you think I had died?"

"You're door light, it was gone after your eleventh birthday. I had worried something terrible had happened." The man obviously hadn't understood what he meant but Mike was too far gone in his relief to notice. The thought of this boy had haunted him for so many years and to find it was truly just a nightmare and not reality was a lot to handle.

"Oh, alright then, if it's something to do with doors I changed rooms' right before I started my boarding school at eleven if that helps." Actually that did help. If he had changed rooms and then left not long then there wouldn't have been a buildup of energy in his new room while his old one would lose it's reserves somewhat quickly without small but constant additions.

"Alright then… Keep this to yourself would ya? I can't have this spreading around. I have a reputation to uphold you know!" Mike would have liked more of an explanation but knew he should leave but not before covering his tracks.

"That's fine just keep visiting Teddy and keep making him happy. If you could come around a little earlier though that would be great. Your late night visits make him incredibly tired the next day. I promise to try and not interfere."

"Thank you and I'll see what I can do." He turned to leave and when he was halfway through the door he turned back around and said his parting comments. "I'm glad you got away from those monsters and if it's worth anything I'm sorry that I didn't help you back then. It is truly one of my biggest regrets."

"Me too but that was a long time ago and I have since moved on. There wasn't much you could have done anyways. Goodbye creature."

"See ya kid."

With that Mike left a much changed creature once again. The first time he had left the boy he had later learned from his mistakes and this time when he left the man he had learned that perhaps he could prevent future ones. He learned that not all things needed to end sadly. Perhaps the children he visited, at least some of them, wouldn't outgrow him. After all they've been through together he couldn't just leave his human friends to wonder what happened to their funny monster in the closet and potentially worry about him needlessly. Friends didn't do that to each other and perhaps things would work out just fine. Maybe adults weren't that bad. They were people just as kids were. The others at work wouldn't understand but maybe this too would stay a secret just like what had happened to the exceptionally small boy who only raised his eyebrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Can you believe Teddy's real name is Edward and not Theodore? I was shocked when that bombshell was dropped not to long ago.

**Author's Note:**

> I always wondered where accidental magic/ leakage kids let off went so I'm just going to say it went to the monsters and the energy they gathered was just some residual magic until the kids got it under control when they're teenagers.   
> Seriously though this turned out waaaaaaaaaaay more depressing than I had planned. In my head it was just like a two hundred word dialogue of Mike trying to make Harry laugh and Harry having none of it.


End file.
